The Pureblood Throne
by DragonGirl135
Summary: Sirius Black spoke of Light and Dark, but he never played the game Purebloods did to survive in their cold world for power and success. You didn't sit comfortably on the throne with a cushioned pillow. You sat on top of your victims bodies, their screams haunting you from beyond while the rest of the world wanted to pull you down and drag you back to the bottom where you came from.


A/N: This has been swirling around in my head for months, so I decided to post it and start the first chapter of _The Pureblood Throne._

 _I'm sitting pretty on the throne/There's nothing more I want/Except to be alone - Lorde, The Love Club (song)_

* * *

Eleven-year-old Leanora Spencer occasionally pulled at the white lace dress on her small body, not liking the itchy feeling it gave her as herself and the rest of her family waited in line to be greeted by the host of the party, the Malfoy family. Unfortunately for Leanora, her twitching gained the attention of her father, Cassius Spencer, who did not appreciate his daughter wiggling like a freshly caught fish from the sea.

Leanora ceased her movements when she felt Cassius's hand tighten around her wrist. She looked up to see Cassius's hazel eyes – her eyes – glare down at her in a silent fury.

"I suggest you fix your posture and stop squirming like a pathetic Squib." Spencer's words were cold, but he said them with a smile on his face to keep away any questioning glances or looks. Leanora frowned, not liking Cassius's words at all. She made to open her mouth, but a firm look from the wife of the Spencer patriarch, Briar Spencer, destroyed any bravery she was about to show her father.

The Spencer family was a wealthy Pureblood family in London's Wizarding society. Cassius Spencer was the only child of a powerful wizarding couple whose Ministry ties allowed them favorable influence on Wizarding laws, not just in London, but America as well. Cassius, ambitious just like his parents, became an ambassador for the Ministry of Magic. He took care of the problems of London's wizards abroad in America which allowed him to rack up a long list of favors many powerful wizards owed him in the future. Cassius stood tall with his black hair and blue eyes that Leanora failed to inherit, but he was still handsome as an adult. His grey suit was impeccably made to fit his muscular body and on his shoulders rested a matching grey robe lined with black ravens.

While Cassius was a great embodiment of Slytherin's house values, his choice of wife was a surprise to his parents in the past. Briar Spencer was a pureblood as well, but she was noted to be a quiet girl back in her days at Hogwarts when she was sorted into Ravenclaw. Leanora never believed her mother was quiet as she was clever in her pursuit for knowledge and already published several books that focused about Charms and Transfiguration. While her knowledge wasn't as big as her ambition, her beauty was breathtaking. Briar stood tall and regal in a blue tea dress and white robes that looked perfect on her olive skin while her auburn hair flowed freely down her back in long waves as a matching blue hat rested upon her head.

Leanora Spencer was lucky to inherit her mother's beauty. They shared the same auburn hair, hazel eyes, and olive skin, but Leanora was constantly told that she was more her father than her mother in terms of ambition and control. Leanora knew she was a child, but she wasn't stupid. She lived in an exclusive world and was part of an exclusive society of Purebloods that would rip one another part to rise to the top, no matter the cost. Purebloods disowned family members and burned them out of the family trees if they even looked at someone who wasn't as regal as them. They all had roles to play in this game of chess that was success, but Leanora wanted no part of it.

The Spencer family finally made it to the entrance hall of the Malfoy Manor, where the hosts themselves greeted everyone in the usual Pureblood manner as they glided across the room effortlessly before standing in front of the Spencer's themselves. Lucius and Narcissa both stood tall and regal, both wearing their finest green robes and clothing. While Lucius offered the Spencer's a cool look, Narcissa wore a welcoming smile that shined just as brightly as the silver jewels on her neck.

"Well, the Spencer's finally return to London at last." Lucius spoke, nodding his head in acknowledgment to Cassius while he gently kissed Briar's hand in greeting. "How was Africa?"

"Lucius, let's not interrogate them when they've barely greeted everyone else." Narcissa interrupted, stopping her husband's words. Narcissa turned to the women of the Spencer household and gestured for them to follow her. "I'll be taking the women outside to the gardens, do call me if you need me."

Leanora and Briar followed Narcissa across the manor and onto the lush grounds where the gardens were located. While Briar and Narcissa engaged in conversation, Leanora took in her surroundings of the Malfoy Manor. It was filled with priceless artifacts and numerous portraits of deceased Malfoy members from the past. The stone walls of each room were engraved with the Malfoy family crest and crystal chandeliers hung from the ceilings, showcasing the wealth and prestige of the Malfoys themselves. Enchanted violins played music as they made their way outside and wizards and witches bowed or curtseyed in respect to Narcissa whose red lips smirked in approval.

While the interior of the Malfoy Manor was grand, the grounds were just as impressive. Lush green grass was perfectly trimmed with flowers and magical plants surrounding the area. Trees stood tall and the occasional peacock was seen strolling around, much to the amusement of the younger guests who attempted to chase after it. Large tables of food were on the stone terrace and the servers held glasses of champagne and firewhiskey for the adults and trays of tea cakes and giggle juice for the children. Most of the female guests and their children were outside and Leanora noticed some familiar faces playing a game of exploding snap and eating amongst themselves.

"Leanora."

Leanora looked up from her observations to see Narcissa, Briar, and two older witches that joined their semi-circle staring down at her in expectation. Leanora blushed slightly in embarrassment, not planning to be caught off-guard by the host herself and the recent additions to their group. Leanora apologized and curtseyed to the new women in greeting, although she inwardly sneered at the mocking smiles, they didn't bother hiding.

"Briar, you must bring your daughter to more events." The first one spoke, although her voice was laced with contempt as she kept speaking. She was the shortest in the group and her round figure was covered in a red dress that was under matching red robes. Her black eyes showed no warmth and her large nose was pointed in the air as if that would make her attractive, when it did not. Gaudy rubies covered her wrists and fingers to showcase her wealth, but Leanora thought it was just too much. Truthfully, she looked like an overgrown tomato.

Briar smiled politely and Narcissa simply watched in interest, wondering what the Ravenclaw was going to say. "We'll try, but my daughter has always been busy with her lessons and myself with my books." Leanora wanted to roll her eyes but years of etiquette lessons stilled her actions. "I'm still studying –"

The other witch scoffed, not hiding her disgust with Briar's career. "Violet, don't even bother." _Violet Crabbe, the woman was a gossip._ "You must know Briar is still trying to get her name out there after all these years." While Violet Crabbe was plump, the other witch was thin as a stick. Her beady gold eyes were narrowed in distaste and her short, black curls whenever she moved her head. "Briar is still trying to inform the Wizarding world about Charms. She never did have what it took to do everything to achieve her ends. Such a waste of potential being in Ravenclaw."

Narcissa glared at the thin woman, not liking her words. Leanora frowned, but it was Briar's reaction they all waited for. Briar, the deviously patient and studious Ravenclaw, simply flashed a cold smile towards the black-haired witch.

"Your opinion is irrelevant to me, Marin." _Marin Goyle, the most annoying Slytherin to be around. Even the kindest Hufflepuffs would lose their calm nature if they ever met her. "_ I do not need to defend my passion for my craft and choice of work as I alone know its worth. It takes great intelligence to recognize great intelligence. _"_ Narcissa smirked at Briar's words and Leanora almost smiled at the embarrassed reaction of the Goyle wife. Briar turned her daughter to Narcissa, tolerating her more than the other two elder witches in the group.

"Why don't you run and play with Draco and the others?" Narcissa asked, not wanting Leanora to deal with the insufferable witches and bore her with talk that a child would not want to deal with. Leanora looked at Briar and Briar simply nodded in agreement. Leanora left the group to join the rest of the children of note-worthy Pureblood elites, but truthfully, she didn't care much for them.

Leanora noticed how her mother never fully changed herself to adapt to the fierce competition of the Slytherin Purebloods game for power. Instead of using her as a pawn, Briar let her be. Instead, Briar changed the game to fit her own needs. She never once gave up her thirst for knowledge to be a socialite and refined her craft of Charms and Transfiguration through her published books. She still had her Ravenclaw nature of spacing out during conversations when she had a new idea pop into her head, but respected Cassius's Slytherin values where they had intellectual conversations and challenged each other when it came to attending galas and events. Briar may have come from an influential Pureblood family, but they were relaxed when it came to their views of Muggles and Muggle-born witches.

Leanora was like Briar in that way. She never fully committed to playing the game and used it to her advantage. Leanora was seen by the elite Purebloods as the perfect daughter for her grace and charm and kept up that act for years due to her father's tutelage of Slytherin values and expectations. Leanora never once fully interacted with the kids her age and always made sure to keep an arm's length to their activities. She was brave yes, but not stupid to challenge kids who would be deadly to her in the future if she angered them now.

Leanora stood in front of said kids and met the Malfoy heir face-to-face. The first time Leanora met Draco Malfoy was at the fifth wedding of Octavia Zabini's soon-to-be dead husband that would leave her wealthier than before with her only son, Blaise. Draco, being the spoiled brat that he was, boasted all about his father's job at the Ministry and his family's status. Honestly, Leanora found him to be an annoying person and barely tolerated him due to the Malfoy's family rank of being at the top of the Pureblood food chain. So, when he stood in font of herm she smartly put on her prettiest smile and curtsied in front of him in greeting.

"There you are!" Draco said, his silver eyes shining in expectation. "Pansy and Daphne won't stop asking for you and you're needed by their side." Leanora simply smiled and nodded to the rest of the boys in Draco's clique: Blaise Zabini, Theodore Nott, Vincent Crabbe, and Gregory Goyle. It was an open secret that all the boys came from Death Eater family's sans Zabini, but no one ever complained. They didn't want to end up dead in a ditch.

"Is it true you went to Africa and visited the Uagadou School of Magic?" Blaise questioned. He was the quietest out of Draco's gang of boys but when he spoke, he was listened to no matter what. Blaise wore a deep green dress shirt, dark pants, and shiny black loafers. Leanora found him to be impeccably dressed no matter the occasion, then again, Octavia Zabini was always put together and the most stylish witch she ever met. "It's the most revered school in the core Wizarding schools."

"I did." Leanora said, she watched her mother transfigure into a beautiful blue dove over the summer and earned the envy of some of the older students who expressed jealously of not having Briar as a professor in their school. "The school definitely earned their reputation when we visited."

Pleased with her answer, Blaise leaned back against the tree they stood under and started a conversation with the Nott heir who smirked in response to his words. Crabbe and Goyle, being the dunces that they were, couldn't keep up and left to go get food. Draco, not liking the attention off him for a single second, scoffed in contempt.

"Who cares about Uagadou?" Draco rolled his eyes and started to pace around, listing all the reasons why Hogwarts was better and that all of them would be in Slytherin, but he turned and sneered at Leanora herself. "Then again, your mother is a Ravenclaw. That house is filled with annoying know-it-alls who would stab each other in the back for getting an O on an exam."

Leanora calmed herself and simply smiled again at Draco. "You're not wrong about that, although Slytherin's would stab each other in the front, not the back." Draco, not expecting her to comment, smirked at her choice of words.

"So where do you think you're going to end up, Spencer?" Leanora didn't answer, thinking about what she would say. Leanora knew she wouldn't be in Gryffindor, she wasn't a reckless idiot. Hufflepuff, that was a hard no. She was not kind and did things for herself, so her choice was between: Ravenclaw and Slytherin. "We're waiting!" Leanora turned to see Blaise and Theodore staring at her in interest, although Blaise looked bored to be in this conversation.

Leanora sighed, not bothering to keep up her fake smile. "The House I would be sorted into is –"

"Slytherin!" The four of them turned to see the brown-haired Pansy Parkinson and blonde Daphne Greengrass walking side-by-side in unison towards them with bright smiles on their faces. Pansy Parkinson was quite pretty with long brown hair, light olive skin tone, and green eyes. Unfortunately, her pug-shaped nose and constant kissing up to Draco made her dim in Leanora's eyes. Although, she assumed Pansy must have some great qualities if Daphne tolerated her presence from them being best friends since they were in diapers.

"That's the best House in all of Hogwarts!" Pansy boasted once again, turning to Draco for approval of her words. He nodded and she simply beamed with happiness that made Leanora want to throw up. "Of course, you'll be in Slytherin Draco!"

"I already know that Pansy!" Draco shouted, he turned and pointed to Leanora once again. "I'm talking about Spencer here. She's the one to watch out for." Draco's words caused Blasie to snort and Theodore to smirk in amusement.

"Are you jealous, Draco?" Theodore spoke, his voice teasing the Malfoy heir. "Intimidated by Spencer, are you?" Draco's pale face turned red as he glared down at Leanora, but she simply put on her smile again and tried to ignore Theodore's taunts. It was brave of him to speak like that to Draco, then again Theodore Sr. did mentor Lucius Malfoy in the Dark Arts so Leanora assumed Death Eater's sons could tear each other apart like that.

"As if!" Draco looked as if he was slapped by Lucius himself. "Why would I be intimidated by Spencer?"

"She is smarter than you and even your father said she would be quite the opponent in the future." Leanora wanted to smack Theodore Nott after he spoke that sentence. Everyone here knew Draco practically worshipped the ground Lucius Malfoy walked on and took everything he said to heart. So, if the snake himself praised Leanora and reckoned her a force to be in the future against his son, then it would be true in Draco's eyes.

Leanora quickly looked at Theodore and he simply shrugged at her in response. Leanora turned back to Draco and saw his entire face turn to stone. Her heart sped up in fear, but she could not do anything to him in response. No one came to her aid as she always kept an arm's length to their activities and clique. Daphne and Pansy stared her down, Blaise eyes were shifting from Draco to her person, and Theodore had the audacity to whistle a tune in amusement at this tense moment.

"Well," Draco finally spoke, his voice barely above a whisper "we'll just have to find out."

Daphne clapped her hands once, causing everyone to shift their attention to her. "As pleasing as that was, did you all hear about Harry Potter? He's coming to Hogwarts with us this year!" Leanora could kiss Daphne Greengrass right now, but that would spur too much attention to herself and she did not need that right now with Draco still staring at her in suspicion.

"Yes!" Pansy started, eager to support her friend. "According to mother, Potter was raised with Muggles!" Leanora didn't know that and wondered how Harry Potter would be. He was a mysterious celebrity to London's wizarding world, and everyone wanted a piece from the Boy who Lived.

"Such a shame, but father says to befriend Potter." Draco said, turning away from Leanora which attracted all the attention to him once again. "He's rumored to be very powerful if he defeated the Dark Lord when he was a baby."

''He was a baby, Draco." Blaise spoke up, picking himself off the ground and brushed off any dirt or lint that stuck onto him when he was in the grass. "Who knows what power he has now?"

"Exactly." Draco said. "Who knows?" Leanora watched the five Purebloods and slowly backed away from the conversation and themselves, officially done with the lot of them. Luckily for her, Crabbe and Goyle ran back to Draco's clique with a large plate of sweets and drinks in their hands. They also ran with large knives and that was when Leanora officially made her exit. She had a feeling something awful was going to happen and she did not want to stick around for that.

As Leanora walked back to her parents, she heard a blood-curdling scream from Pansy and turned to see Crabbe and Goyle on the ground with their plates empty and the sweets they previously carried covering Pansy's purple dress. Daphne was lucky to be covered in water and butterbeer, but Pansy's long hair was unfortunately reduced to a horrible bob that barely touched her chin. Draco stood shocked with his mouth open and Blaise was doing everything not too laugh, but Theodore simply stared at Leanora, his eyes never once leaving her now retreating figure.

When Leanora finally left, commotion occurred but she ignored it. She stayed by Briar's side, fake smiling and pretending to care about the social climbing Purebloods and avoided Draco and his clique for the rest of the day. When everyone went inside for dancing and conversation, Leanora politely declined some of the dances she was offered and watched as her parents glided across the ballroom in the Malfoy Manor. Cassius broke from his wife and left her to speak with Narcissa who finished dancing with Lucius, who left with Theodore Sr. to his personal study. Cassius stood in front of his daughter expectantly, a hand offered to her as the enchanted violins started to regroup and start another tune to signal the start of another dance. Being the ever-dutiful daughter that she was, Leanora took Cassius's hand as he led her to the floor to dance. He bowed and she curtseyed, and the dance began.

Despite being remarkably smaller than her mother, Leanora danced effortlessly on the ballroom floor with her father as he looked down at her in contemplation. Knowing better than questioning her father in such a dangerous area, she simply waited for him to speak.

"I do hope you didn't cause any trouble back there with the rest of the children." Cassius lifted his daughter in unison with the other dancers and twirled her around the room. "I don't want to hear the incessant babblings of gossiping witches who have the audacity to fling mud onto our family name."

"That was all Pansy, Crabbe and Goyle; not me." Leanora winced as her father tightened his grip on her waist when he spun her around, not in the mood to deal with childish squabble. Cassius gave his daughter a cool look before allowing her to be transferred to another partner, Mikael Greengrass. Leanora quickly danced with the Greengrass patriarch and other men of various ages before being returned to her father. Cassius and Leanora danced a few more steps before bowing and curtseying once again at the end of the song. Cassius took Leanora's arm and took his time in steering her towards the Great Dining Room for dinner where everyone else started to congregate.

"I don't care for excuses, daughter." Cassius said, his voice held his hidden anger, but his face showed no emotion to anyone else. "The Spencer family has always managed to come out unscathed and I will not have you besmirch the reputation of our name." The Spencer family had always managed to avoid disasters and controversy to their name. They were respected in both the Muggle and Wizarding World and had allies all over the globe. When the First Wizarding War came, the Spencer's kept out of it. They were smart enough never to declare a side, but not stupid to stay in Great Britain where death was certain if one was against Lord Voldemort. They relocated to America and stayed with friends who shared their similar views over the senseless deaths of their fellow witches and wizards. Simply put, the Spencer family was the perfect example of self-preservation.

"Yes, father." Leanora obediently said, not daring to anger the Spencer family patriarch. They found their seats near Briar and quickly ate dinner with the other guests whose main conversation was the famous Harry Potter and the start of the Hogwarts school year. Most of the older guests' reminiscence of their time at Hogwarts but Leanora kept out of the conversations, focusing on her plate of perfectly cooked stuffed duck and crisp vegetables. As she ate, she felt a slight pain on her body and looked up to see Nott Jr. smirking at her from down the table.

Leanora plastered a fake smile onto her face and chewed her duck slowly, not in the mood for any games. She had no idea why Theodore Nott was suddenly yearning for her attention, but she would not give it to him. Leanora wanted no part in any games, especially from a Death Eater's son. When dinner finally ended, most of the guests apparated to their homes after giving they're thanks to the Malfoy family at the entrance hall in which they came from. As Leanora and her family straightened themselves up and walked over to a fireplace to travel home, Leanora was bumped into by Nott Jr and Sr.

Nott Sr. ignored her but of course Jr. stayed.

"Yes, Theodore?" Leanora asked, a hint of annoyance in her tone after his stinging hex at dinner. Theodore simply smiled at her before finally opening his mouth.

"See you at Hogwarts, Spencer." Theodore Nott Jr. walked away from the Spencer family as his father and himself traveled by floo powder back to their residence. Leanora didn't say anything after the flames disappeared and stood with her family as Cassius wrapped an arm around their bodies and spoke his chosen words as the green flames burned and transported them back to the Spencer Estate.

Leanora quickly went into her room, cleaned herself up and readied herself for bed.

 _I will see you as well, Theodore Nott._

* * *

 _A/N: Slytherins are noted to be evil, but I think they're the most interesting house at Hogwarts. Please leave a review so I can get your comments and concerns for this chapter. Vote on the poll on which House you think Leanora would be sorted into! Poll is active on my profile._

 _Next chapter: Knowledge is Power._


End file.
